Meissen c. 1745 / coffee cup: 6.4 cm high; Ø 7.1 cm / saucer: Ø 13.3 cm; 3 cm high; press number: "9" (0or "6") / on both pieces: underglaze blue swords mark, below two golden dots marking the service / the missing coat of arms on the lower bowl is rare for armorial services. Provenance: Lower Saxony private collection
Parts from the Pisani/Corner service are rare, so far we are only aware of the following: - Tureen (Cassidy-Geiger Fragile Diplomacy 2008) - Tea caddy (Metz 1 Dec. 2012 no. 291, APC 1981) - Tea caddy (Württemberg State Museum, inv. no. G 30,159, digital archive, 13.10.2023) - Ecuelles (Schnyder von Wartensee) - Bowl (Slg. Schneider)
The Pisani-Corner alliance coat of arms belongs to two leading Venetian families who, over the centuries, provided ten cardinals, over 20 procurators of St Mark's, bankers and five doges, the last of whom was Alvise Pisani (reigned 1735-1741) (Hoffmeister II. p. 688). Maureen Cassidy-Geiger has identified the coat of arms more precisely (Fragile Diplomacy p. 228 fn. 136) and attributed it to Vincenzo Pisani and Lucretia Corner, who married in 1745. The previously uncertain dating of 1740-45 can thus be made more precise. Our cup belongs to a rare coffee and tea service (see above). Only four other cups are known to date, one of them a tall coffee cup: - Coll. Hoffmeister II no. 535; ex. Van Slyke no. 108, small teacup - Coll. Wark no. 558, small teacup - Christie's 28.6.1976 No. 115, small teacup - Metz 29/11/2014 no. 525, coffee cup
